shaperaversefandomcom-20200215-history
The Dolls of New Albion
The Dolls of New Albion, A Steampunk Opera is a four act musical written by Paul Shapera which follows four generations of the McAlistair family in the fantastical city of New Albion. It is often abbreviated as DoNA. The album features four singers. Traditionally, two of them (Lauren Osborn and Jason Broderick) have a different role every act, as the main characters change with each successive generation. The other two (Kayleigh McKnight and Paul Shapera) play the Narrator and Jasper the Doll. All four acts are narrated by a woman named Kate. The 1st Act is concerned with a scientist, Annabel McAlistair, and her attempt to bring back her dead love, placing him within the body of a mechanical mannequin. The 2nd Act shows her son, Edgar, his business exploits, and how they affect the city. The 3rd Act follows his son, Byron, and his ensuing political race and cultural impact on New Albion. Finally, the 4th Act tells the story of Priscilla McAlistair and a New Albion Soldier. Throughout each acts there is Jasper, a continual presence in each of the character's lives. Each generation's meddling with these Dolls contributes to the gradual ruin of New Albion itself. Characters Main Characters Kate the Narrator - An omniscient and seemingly immortal narrator to the McAlisters Annabel - A young, nervous scientist who only wants to be with her dead lover Jasper - A dead man, resurrected into a clockwork doll by his old flame Edgar - Annabel’s charmless son who builds a business empire on his mother's science Fay - Jasper’s daughter and Edgar’s wife who resents his manipulation of her Byron - Edgar’s son and acolyte of the Voodoopunk cult who runs Jasper for mayor Amelia - Byron’s best friend and Voodoopunk high priestess who commits suicide after empathizing with Jasper Priscilla - Byron’s reclusive daughter who sacrifices herself for Jasper Soldier 7285 - A recruit of the militarized New Albion police who switches sides after seeing Priscilla die Minor Characters Sillof - A young businessman who Edgar destroys after he steals Fay. The Voodoopunks - A subculture religion that venerates the Dolls and fuses Haitian vodou and Celtic fae myths. They also double as a political movement. New Albion Police - Militarized police officers who are trained to kill if any trace of the dead is found. Plot Act I Act 1 begins with The Narrator, Kate, telling a brief history of New Albion, a Victorian era town founded by a Gambler and a Monk who played a card game while a city was established around them. Fast forward to modern day and New Albion is filled with bustling streets and cafes, including a mafia run by a red-haired dwarf, zeppelin pilots, alchemists, and an allegedly aphrodisiac fog. In spite of all of the things occurring in the city, the story is focusing around Annabel McAlistair (New Albion 1). The story now begins with Annabel McAlistair, who is attempting to bring back the soul of her dead love Jasper, a boy for whom she had fallen back in college. However, she was kicked out of the college for stealing dead bodies and their connection was severed. Years later, Jasper dies and Annabel is saddened when she hears the news. While he has passed, her love for him hasn't. (Annabel Raises The Dead). ]] After many desperate attempts, Annabel finally succeeds in resurrecting him and putting his soul into a mechanical Doll. While the delighted Annabel leaves her home for the first time in a long while, she goes around town with Jasper, who, not being able to speak, but being able to broadcast radio, complains to Annabel through a song about him being alive once more. During this, Kate attempts to get Annabel to realize Jasper does not wish to remain alive, but Annabel does not listen to Kate nor Jasper. However, after asking Jasper to speak to her, Annabel finally hears the song she was previous deaf to and realizes Jasper doesn't wish to remain alive (Annabel Has A Doll). Saddened now, she laments this development (Annabel's Lament), destroys Jasper,'' and returns to her life of solitude, hiding her notes on bringing back the dead and ending Act I ''(We Bid The 1st Generation Adieu). Act II Act II starts up a generation later. New Albion has changed somewhat, containing both new and changed characters. The red-haired dwarf from Act I has been murdered, and the killer, his son, takes his place as the mob leader. There are two girls, their pet albatross, Simon, and their mouse, Sam, who run crimes around the city under the guise of a single, highly competent cat burglar. However, the story is still following the McAlistairs. Annabel finally married and had a son named Edgar, however, she died when he was ten. Edgar is grown up now and is dating a woman named Fay, whom he wishes to marry (New Albion 2). The story continues with Edgar and Fay at a restaurant, having a romantic dinner. Fay dumps him, saying she has found someone else, and leaves him alone at the restaurant. Edgar is heartbroken and returns home. (Edgar Gets His Heart Broken)'.'' At home, he rummages through an old trunk in his attic. Kate watches as he finds many family relics, and finally stumbles upon his mother's notes on resurrecting the dead (The Old Trunk in the Attic). The next morning, Edgar tries out and succeeds with the experiments detailed within his mother's notes. He proceeds to create a business out of bringing back people's loved ones as Dolls. After an indeterminate period of time, Edgar is at the top of his empire and is one of the most influential men in New Albion. He orders his board of executives to utterly destroy the life of Sillof, the man who stole Fay from him. Kate tries to talk some sense into him. However, he is now obsessed with revenge and ignores her, ruining Sillof's life, destroying the man's business and home.'' Fay comes to him and Edgar reveals his master plan. He has brought back Fay's father as a Doll, and in order to see him, she must stay and marry him ''(Edgar Builds A Business). Fay reflects on her life with Edgar, and is torn with hatred for him but love for her dead father, so she chooses the latter and marries Edgar, ending Act 2 (Fay Considers Edgar's Proposal). Act III Act III takes place another generation later. New Albion, however, has once again changed. The town is filled with faceless Dolls who can only broadcast radio, and their families project personalities onto them. They fill the slums, streets, and homes of the city. The Doll that Edgar brought up is Fay's father, who, in fact, is Jasper, the very same that Annabel resurrected. Together, despite their loveless marriage, they produced a child, a son named Byron. Byron has fallen in love with Jasper, not knowing that Jasper is his grandfather, and now is part of a political and religious movement known as Voodoopunk, which aims to make a social commentary by running Jasper for mayor. (New Albion 3). The act begins with Byron singing with the other Voodoopunks'' while asking for Jasper to speak with him, similar to his grandmother's pleas in Act I. Amelia, Byron's best friend, is in love with Byron and wants him to notice her. However, his attention is all on Jasper. Byron also attempts to rile the crowds of New Albion and convince the people to vote for Jasper as mayor ''(The Movement 1). Voodoopunks host a ritualistic ceremony to be possessed by spirits and call upon the Sidhe (Voodoopunk). Amelia continues to seek Byron's love,'' yet she is unable to receive it. Byron attempts to convince the people of New Albion to vote for Jasper again, and explain why he's the best choice (''The Movement 2). '' Now in front of the crowds, after years of building up a library of words his Doll body can readily use, Jasper is able to finally communicate about how he feels and sings a song for everyone about his despair and pain, how he longs to return to the afterlife. ''(Elysian Night). '' All of the Dolls in the city relate heavily to Jasper's song, as being resurrected is an agonizing existence for them. Following the song, every Doll begins to play it and soon Amelia, who is abused by her father, feels a deep resonance with the song and commits suicide ''(The Suicide). '' The next day, her suicide note is found with only the lyrics to Jasper's song on it. All of New Albion begins to fear and hate the Dolls and there is a large amount of outcry. It's Byron who finally and unintentionally causes the riots to begin with one of his campaign speeches.'' Byron runs to find Jasper and risks his life to pull him from the bonfire, ending Act III (The Bonfire of the Dolls). Act IV Act IV starts up now, this time with a flashback to early New Albion. Kate tells the story of how several hundreds of years before, a Monk and a Gambler embarked on a long journey to the North. After a heated debate about God, chance, and fate, they decided that the only way to settle it was through a card game. When the game seemed to be endless, and right before the Gambler would ''have won, his heart gave out and he died. He swore that he and the Monk would be back and that their game wasn't done ''(The Ballad of The Gambler and The Monk). Returning us to modern day, New Albion is now a city-state under martial law. Byron married a trophy wife, Charlotte, and had a daughter named Priscilla. Similar to Edgar, Priscilla loses her parents; Byron, having been a prominent pro-Doll public figure, is taken by the police, and her mother goes mad and is taken to a mental institution. In order to maintain order in New Albion, armored cops patrol the city searching for Dolls, the possession of which is punishable by execution on the spot. Soldier 7285 is a newly-enlisted soldier recently added to the armored police patrols. Jasper is still around and now is with Priscilla in a hidden room in McAlistair Manor, spending their days playing a never-ending card game (New Albion 4). While Priscilla and Jasper play cards, Jasper mourns his existence in the living world. He claims that he is only acquiescent with it because he loves Priscilla, who reminds him of his daughter and her grandmother, Fay. Priscilla can't fathom that Jasper would wish to die. Meanwhile, Soldier 7285 patrols the city in search of Dolls (Priscilla and Jasper Play Cards). ''Priscilla reaches a break in their game and proceeds to contemplate about the situation in which they are in. She finally realizes that some must sacrifice for love, realizing that Jasper sacrifices his happiness for her life. She then realizes that she must sacrifice her life if Jasper is ever to be happy and at peace. She calls the police and confesses to her crime of harboring a Doll ''(Priscilla Contemplates). Jasper hears this and pleads with her to run and live her life,'' however, she wishes to stay with him. Soldier 7285 and his squad arrive at the home and burst in to execute the two. Priscilla tells Jasper that she will be with him once more in the afterlife before the two die together, killed by the soldiers. Soldier 7285 sees the love Priscilla has for Jasper and this causes him to hold his fire. The rest of the squad fires and kills them ''(The Day They Come). '' Soldier 7285 is given a court martial for negligence of duty. He is inspired by Priscilla's sacrifice and he swears he'll bring down the martial law of New Albion ''(I Will Bring You Down).Kate talks about the revolution that is to come from this and that it is a story for another time, closing out the opera. (We Bid You All Adieu). Sequel The climactic and final battle of the ensuing revolution is detailed in the Dieselpunk opera, The New Albion Radio Hour. Soundtrack Casts Other Productions: Clockwork Hart, Manayunk Theatre Company, Thistle N' Thorn, Bayreuth, NTSA * '''The Narrator: Alice Young, Julia Hopkins, Johanna Spencer, Maya Lösel, Nicole Batista, Grace Lawrence, Lily Lawrence, Georgia Rosen, Genelieve Shaftel, Ainsley Smith, Ben Thurston * Jasper: Jack Taylor, John DiFerdinando, Fraser Kelsey, Tobias Vogt, Marissa Hofmann, Sheehan Personett * Annabel McAlistair: Zoe McGee, Anna Flynn-Mekaton, Amy Barclay, Amelie Rehorz, Jaynie Parmenter * Fay: Mary Chapman, Ariana Ballerini, Emma Hunter, Amelie Rehorz, Divira Pahwa * Amelia: Emma Fleming, Melissa Raub, Kartina McMillan, Amelie Rehorz, Devon Fruscione * Priscilla McAlistair: Anna Flynn-Mekaton, Ruby Leslie, Maike Göbel, Audrey Mikelson * Edgar McAlistair: Tim Ledsam, John O'Donnell, Gordon Horne, Klaus Harfmann, Trevor Johnson * Byron McAlistair: Connor Warden, Aubrey McKinney, James Sharp, Klaus Harfmann, Vincent Canale-Rouse * Soldier 7285: Sam Hall, John O'Donnell, Kieran Sweeney, Sven Bagger, Avva Glavon Information *The cast album was recorded in London, UK in April 2012. It can be listened to online at The Dolls of New Albion. *The cover art is titled Timethief, by Witchling-Ashara at Deviantart. *The alternate cover art is created by Stefan Paris. Trivia * The names of the Narrator and the Soldier, Kate and Saul, respectively, are not confirmed in Dolls of New Albion itself. Paul Shapera, however, has stated these are their names. * The working title of New Albion was New Camden and the early versions of characters would have included such details as: ** Byron being extremely opposed to the Voodoopunk movement, rather than being one of its most prominent members. ** Jasper singing a song called Lost Night's Lullaby (which would later be repurposed for use in the third installment in the series, The New Albion Guide to Analogue Consciousness). * The Narrator, Kate, is interesting in that she is more than a generic narrator, like many of the narrators in Paul's works. She actually does exist in the world of the characters and can interact with them. The advice she gives is something the characters could actually hear, which shows that the McAlistairs she advises either ignore her advice or are too caught up to hear her in the first place. * Though it is never directly stated in the Opera, it is heavily implied (and confirmed by Paul outside of the actual opera) that Jasper and Priscilla are the reincarnations of the Gambler and Monk, respectively. Cultural References * Paul Shapera has stated that Dolls of New Albion heavily drew on Judeo-Christian influences. ** Annabel's resurrection of Jasper is meant as a parallel for Original Sin, and begins the parallel to the fall of man. "Each successive generation commits further sin top of that one and the world continues to spiral downwards so we need an act of selflessness to stop the spiral. We need our Christ figure to perform an act of ultimate sacrificial love, not so that Jasper may live but so that he may die, and boom, we have Priscilla and she needs to kill herself to bring Jasper eternal death." ** Priscilla's death at the hands of Soldier 7285 is meant as a parallel for Jesus' death acting as the redemption of mankind. She calls the police knowing that they will kill her, but in her sacrifice, she puts Jasper at peace by allowing him his final death. ** Soldier 7285's identification numbers represent letters. If they are typed out on a phone's number pad, it spells the name Saul or Paul. This is similar to the Christian Apostle Paul who once went by the name of Saul. After becoming blind and having Jesus same him, he changed his ways and became a leader for truth and justice and went by Paul. Soldier 7285 goes through a similar character arc.